Representation by James Andrews
- Date submitted
- 12 September 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Concentrated energy generation and the risk to national security Completed in 1986, the Converter Station in Church Lane, Aldington has developed into one of the most significant parts of the UK energy infrastructure. One of two (the other is close to Calais) such stations, it is linked by a 2000MW high voltage, direct current interconnector (known as IFA1), which enables the UK and France to import or export electricity. Today, the Converter Station is able to deliver 4.5% of the UK Peak Power Demand, almost equivalent to the Dungeness B Nuclear Reactors. In addition, the on-site ElecLink Interconnector adds a further 2.3%, contributing to a total of 6.8% of the peak demand from the UK power grid*, assuming there are no other such activities onsite. *ESO, 2023 Review – Britain’s electricity explained. Highest demand 23-01-23, 17.30, 44GW. This high concentration of energy generation within the broad, identifiable footprint of the Converter Station and surrounding developments raises grave concern, especially so when coupled with the prospect of highly visible solar facilities, such as Stonestreet Green Solar. All of which can be logically and realistically identified as a target for infiltrators with hostile intentions towards the UK and its population. The potential risk is further enhanced when the adjacent HS1 railway and the M20 motorway, both with connections to London in one direction and the Port of Dover in the other, are added. This seemingly obvious cumulative risk is compounded by the absence of any significant security provision. Consider also, the UK’s ongoing supply of weapons to Ukraine, inflicting significant injuries to Russian troops whilst damaging infrastructure and resources. Furthermore, it is reported that such weapons are also deployed for the very first time on Russian soil since the second World War. As Ben Wallace, until recently the UK’s Secretary of State for Defence, wrote in the Daily Telegraph on August 27th under the heading ‘Putin will soon turn his war machine on Britain’ – In Putin’s warped worldview, we were behind the Crimean War and defeat of the Czars, we were behind the rise of Hitler, we were behind the counter-revolution and our espionage was behind the end of the Soviet Union. Britain is in Putin’s crosshairs. One of the members of the Russian Silovki recently commented: ‘We know Britain is behind the invasion of Kursk’. Make no mistake, Putin is coming for us. We must be prepared for the inevitable. Together with the UK’s role in the Middle East against the threats from hostile states such as Iran and organisations such as the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas, the Russian risk should bring the potential for hostile actions against such a huge energy complex as that in Church Lane into sharp perspective. Have these risks and considerations been identified, considered and mitigated against? ENDS